eaton fire - ReportWire

AIDS Healthcare Foundation will celebrate its legacy of food relief at the New Year’s Rose Parade

You may not be too familiar with LA County Assessor Jeffrey Prang. You’ve probably never heard of the office of the LA County Assessor, or you might only have a vague notion of what it does.

But with a career in city politics spanning nearly thirty years, he’s among the longest-serving openly gay elected officials in the United States, and for his work serving the people of Los Angeles and championing the rights of the city’s LGBTQ people, the Stonewall Democratic Club is honoring him at their 50^th Anniversary Celebration and Awards Night Nov 15 at Beaches Tropicana in West Hollywood.

Prang moved to Los Angeles from his native Michigan after college in 1991, specifically seeking an opportunity to serve in politics as an openly gay man. In 1997, he was elected to the West Hollywood City Council, where he served for 18 years, including four stints as mayor.

“I was active in politics, but in Michigan at the time I left, you couldn’t really be out and involved in politics… My life was so compartmentalized. I had my straight friends, my gay friends, my political friends, and I couldn’t really mix and match those things,” he says.

“One of the things that was really impactful was as you drove down Santa Monica Boulevard and saw those rainbow flags placed there by the government in the median island. That really said, this is a place where you can be yourself. You don’t have to be afraid.”

One thing that’s changed over Prang’s time in office is West Hollywood’s uniqueness as a place of safety for the queer community.

“It used to be, you could only be out and gay and politically involved if you were from Silver Lake or from West Hollywood. The thought of being able to do that in Downey or Monterey Park or Pomona was foreign. But now we have LGBTQ centers, gay pride celebrations, and LGBT elected officials in all those jurisdictions, something that we wouldn’t have thought possible 40 years ago,” he says.

Prang’s jump to county politics is emblematic of that shift. In 2014, amid a scandal that brought down the previous county assessor, Prang threw his name in contention for the job, having worked in the assessor’s office already for the previous two years. He beat out eleven contenders in the election, won reelection in 2018 and 2022, and is seeking a fourth term next year.

To put those victories in perspective, at the time of his first election, Prang represented more people than any other openly gay elected official in the world.

Beyond his office, Prang has lent his experience with ballot box success to helping get more LGBT people elected through his work with the Stonewall Democrats and with a new organization he co-founded last year called the LA County LGBTQ Elected Officials Association (LACLEO).

LACLEO counts more than fifty members, including officials from all parts of the county, municipal and state legislators, and members of school boards, water boards, and city clerks.

“I assembled this group to collectively use our elected strength and influence to help impact policy in Sacramento and in Washington, DC, to take advantage of these elected leaders who have a bigger voice in government than the average person, and to train them and educate them to be better advocates on behalf of the issues that are important for us,” Prang says.

“I do believe as a senior high-level official I need to play a role and have an important voice in supporting our community,” he says.

Ok, but what is the LA County assessor, anyway?

“Nobody knows what the assessor is. 99% of people think I’m the guy who collects taxes,” Prang says.

The assessor makes sure that all properties in the county are properly recorded and fairly assessed so that taxes can be levied correctly. It’s a wonky job, but one that has a big impact on how the city raises money for programs.

And that wonkiness suits Prang just fine. While the job may seem unglamorous, he gleefully boasts about his work overhauling the office’s technology to improve customer service and efficiency, which he says is proving to be a role model for other county offices.

“I inherited this 1970s-era mainframe green screen DOS-based legacy system. And believe it or not, that’s the standard technology for most large government agencies. That’s why the DMV sucks. That’s why the tax collection system sucks. But I spent $130 million over almost 10 years to rebuild our system to a digitized cloud-based system,” Prang says.

“I think the fact that my program was so successful did give some impetus to the board funding the tax collector and the auditor-controller to update their system, which is 40 years behind where they need to be.”

More tangible impacts for everyday Angelenos include his outreach to promote tax savings programs for homeowners, seniors, and nonprofits, and a new college training program that gives students a pipeline to good jobs in the county.

As attacks on the queer community intensify from the federal government, Prang says the Stonewall Democrats are an important locus of organization and resistance, and he encourages anyone to get involved.

“It is still an important and relevant organization that provides opportunities for LGBTQ people to get involved, to have an impact on our government and our civic life. If you just wanna come and volunteer and donate your time, it provides that, if you really want to do more and have a bigger voice and move into areas of leadership, it provides an opportunity for that as well,” he says.

Kristie Song

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December 29, 2025

5 men charged with felonies for allegedly working as unlicensed contractors in Eaton fire burn scar area

Los Angeles County prosecutors have charged five men with felonies for allegedly working as unlicensed contractors in the Eaton fire burn scar and vowed to find and prosecute other workers trying to rebuild homes destroyed by the January wildfires without a license, officials announced Thursday, Dec. 11.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office accused the men of knowingly doing contract work without licenses during a natural disaster, a felony in California.

Property owners are drawn to unlicensed contractors after receiving insurance money because they often promise to rebuild their homes faster and cheaper than others, District Attorney Nathan Hochman said. Unlicensed contractors bring a greater risk of fraud, he said.

Homeowners can be sued for any injury workers experience on their property, and it would be difficult if not impossible to recover losses or damages from unlicensed contractors, who often aren’t insured, he said. Unlicensed contractors may ask for significant money upfront and then leave homeowners high and dry or do a faulty job that leads to higher costs and issues in the long run.

“There’s a reason it’s quick and there’s a reason it’s cheaper,” Hochman said, “because of all these risks that can occur.”

Undercover operatives will search the area for unlicensed contractors in an effort to weed them out, he said.

“Get the heck out of our community, all you unlicensed contractors,” Hochman said.

L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents Altadena, said residents should turn to official lists of vetted contractors when planning to rebuild.

The men are expected to be arraigned on Jan. 8, Hochman said.

Andrea Klick

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December 11, 2025

Christmas Tree Lane in Altadena Will Light Up in Sign of Hope – LAmag

Altadena will welcome visitors back to beloved Christmas Tree Lane, which will mark its 105th lighting ceremony after the beloved stretch survived the January wildfires

Christmas Tree Lane – the oldest lighting spectacle in the United States, with nearly a mile stretch of twinkling cedars – will welcome visitors back to celebrate the resurrection and hope in Altadena, nearly a year after the deadly Eaton fire tore through the historic community.

On Saturday, Dec. 6, Santa Rosa Avenue will once again welcome visitors to glimpse Altadena’s famous holiday lights, a way to celebrate resiliency in the face of such unimaginable loss. As many as 6,000 homes were lost, and 19 Altadena residents perished in the wind-fueled January wildfire. But the volunteers with Christmas Tree Lane Association have vowed to make the century-old extravaganza a must-see event with more than 10,000 lights lighting the path to recovery.

“It’s about healing,” Jules McCulskey, 53, said of bringing the tradition back to the community. “We will rebuild. We will celebrate life. We will keep our neighborhood traditions alive.”

Christmas Tree Lane Altadena — For the 105th year, Altadena’s Christmas Tree Lane will come alive for a winter festival of lights and hope on Saturday Dec. 6

This year there will be a special ceremony memorializing what was lost in the Eaton Fire. But there will also be carolers, hot chocolate and a special visit from Santa Claus. Volunteers are still needed.

Michele McPhee

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November 29, 2025

She died in the Eaton fire. Her family says emergency alert software was to blame

Attorneys representing the family of Stacey Darden, an Altadena resident who perished in the Eaton fire, filed a wrongful death lawsuit Monday alleging that the software that Los Angeles County uses for emergency alerts was defective and failed to alert her to leave in time.

The complaint, filed more than 10 months after the Eaton fire engulfed Altadena, targets the emergency alert software company Genasys and blames the company’s predesigned evacuation zones, or “polygons,” for keeping residents east of Lake Avenue from getting timely evacuation orders the night of the fire.

Although the lawsuit also blames the Southern California Edison utility company for starting the fire with its equipment, like several other lawsuits filed in the wake of the deadly blaze, it is among the first to focus on how evacuation orders failed to reach a large swath of residents.

A spokesperson for Genasys said the company’s attorneys were reviewing the complaint. “Genasys denies any wrongdoing and will vigorously defend itself against these allegations,” the spokesperson said.

Gerry Darden, the sister of Stacey Darden, said her family thought long and hard about the decision to bring a complaint against Genasys for her sister’s death.

“Edison started this fire, and Genasys never warned her that she was in danger,” Darden said in a statement. “My sister was studiously following the evacuation orders the night of the Eaton Fire. The truth is that if these companies had done what they were supposed to do, Stacey would be alive today.”

The morning sun peeks through the smoke from the Altadena fire as seen from Sylmar on Jan. 8.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

On Jan. 7, Los Angeles emergency officials and fire responders were quickly overwhelmed when extreme red flag conditions ignited a spate of devastating fires across the region, from the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains to the San Gabriel Mountains. When flames erupted near Eaton Canyon around 6:30 p.m., erratic hurricane-force winds carried red-hot embers for miles, igniting countless small fires that ultimately destroyed thousands of homes. Nineteen people in Altadena died.

In the fire’s aftermath, The Times reported that residents of west Altadena did not get electronic evacuation orders until hours after the fire had started and engulfed the area. All but one of the 19 deaths from the Eaton fire occurred west of Lake Avenue, where residents did not receive evacuation warnings until around 3:30 a.m. on Jan. 8, at least six hours after their neighbors on the other side of the Lake Avenue began to get alerts.

At a news conference at Altadena’s main library, Doug Boxer, an attorney working with L.A. Fire Justice, said Stacey Darden, 54, and her sister Gerry were on high alert when the Eaton fire ignited and were constantly monitoring the news for information on evacuation zones.

Darden’s Altadena home — 2528 Marengo Ave., about five blocks west of Lake Avenue — was not included in an evacuation order zone, or “polygon,” Boxer said.

According to the lawsuit, the only evacuation order for Darden’s neighborhood did not hit her cellphone until 5:43 a.m. on Jan. 8. Her last cellphone activity, it said, is believed to be more than two hours earlier, around 3:30 a.m.

“By the time an evacuation order was finally pushed to her phone, it was too late,” attorney Mikal Watts said in a statement. “This is not a tragedy of bad luck, this is a tragedy of corporate failures.”

“At its core, this is really a case of digital redlining,” Watts said at the news conference, referring to Lake Avenue’s historic role as a boundary for racial redlining in Altadena.

The suit seeks to answer a question that the company, the county, and its after-action report have thus far been unable to answer: Why were alerts for residents west of Lake Avenue delayed?

An Emergency Alert evacuation warning on the Apple iphone15 of Dylan Stewart of Riverside, Calif.

Since January, several neighborhood groups in Altadena have rallied around the issue of late alerts, pressing county officials for answers as to why the historically marginalized west side of town received alerts so much later than the comparatively more affluent, whiter east side.

The complaint alleges that Genasys entered into a contract to provide L.A. County with a mass notification software system that county officials could use to alert residents in the case of emergencies and had a duty to provide a system that was “safe in its operation for its intended purpose” and “free of defects in its design and manufacture.”

It argues, however, that Genasys’ system was “defective and unreasonably dangerous,” because of its predefined evacuation zones, which determine how alerts are rolled out onto cellphones and other technology in a given area. According to the suit, the zones did not take into consideration vulnerable populations including the sick and elderly, who need more time to evacuate.

A recent state report highlighted a number of issues with senior facility operators and their inability to evacuate all of their residents as the emergency unfolded.

As missteps around the Eaton fire response have come to light and questions of who is responsible have mounted, officials with Genasys have maintained that their company’s software did not fail during the fire.

In March, Richard Danforth, the chief executive of Genasys, told stockholders in a Zoom meeting “the system was up and operational.”

According to a county-supported after-action report from the McChrystal Group, most of the issues with alerts in the Eaton fire were due to human error, not technological issues.

At the time of the fire, the Genasys software was new to L.A. County and only a handful of staff members at the county Office of Emergency Management had been trained to use it before the fires broke out, the report stated.

Jenny Jarvie, Terry Castleman

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November 17, 2025

U.S. senators ramp up Palisades fire probe but give Eaton fire short shrift

The firestorms that broke out in January ravaged two distinctly different stretches of Los Angeles County: one with grand views of the Pacific Ocean, the other nestled against the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.

But so far, a push from congressional Republicans to investigate the Jan. 7 firestorm and response has been focused almost exclusively on the Palisades fire, which broke out in L.A.’s Pacific Palisades and went on to burn parts of Malibu and surrounding areas.

In a letter to City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, two U.S. senators this week intensified that investigation, saying they want an enormous trove of documents on Los Angeles Fire Department staffing, wildfire preparations, the city’s water supply and many other topics surrounding the devastating blaze.

U.S. Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) asked for records related to several issues raised during and after the Palisades fire, including an empty reservoir and the failure to fully extinguish a previous fire that was later identified as the cause.

In contrast, the letter only briefly mentions the Eaton fire, which broke out in the unincorporated community of Altadena and spread to parts of Pasadena. That emergency was plagued by delayed evacuation alerts, deployment issues and allegations that electrical equipment operated by Southern California Edison sparked the blaze.

Both fires incinerated thousands of homes. Twelve people died in the Palisades fire. In the Eaton fire, all but one of the 19 who died were found in west Altadena, where evacuation alerts came hours after flames and smoke were threatening the area.

Scott and Johnson gave Harris-Dawson a deadline of Nov. 3 to produce records on several topics specific to the city of L.A.: “diversity, equity and inclusion” hiring policies at the city’s Fire Department; the Department of Water and Power’s oversight of its reservoirs; and the removal of Fire Chief Kristin Crowley by Mayor Karen Bass earlier this year.

Officials in Los Angeles County said they have not received such a letter dealing with either the Palisades fire or the Eaton fire.

A spokesperson for Johnson referred questions about the letter to Scott’s office. An aide to Scott told The Times this week that the investigation remains focused on the Palisades fire but could still expand. Some Eaton fire records were requested, the spokesperson said, because “they’re often inextricable in public reports.”

The senators — who both sit on the Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs — opened the probe after meeting with reality TV star Spencer Pratt, who lost a home in the Palisades fire and quickly became an outspoken critic of the city’s response to the fire and subsequent rebuilding efforts. At the time, the senators called the Palisades fire “an unacceptable failure of government to protect the lives and property of its citizens.”

The investigation was initially billed as a look at the city’s emergency preparations, including the lack of water in a nearby reservoir and in neighborhood fire hydrants the night of the fire. The Times first reported that the Santa Ynez Reservoir, located in Pacific Palisades, had been closed for repairs for nearly a year.

The letter to Harris-Dawson seeks records relating to the reservoir as well as those dealing with “wildfire preparation, suppression, and response … including but not limited to the response to the Palisades and Lachman fires.”

Officials have said the Lachman fire, intentionally set Jan. 1, reignited six days later to become the Palisades fire. A suspect was recently arrested on suspicion of arson in the Lachman fire. Now, the senators are raising concerns about why that fire wasn’t properly contained.

The sweeping records request also seeks communications sent to and from each of the 15 council members and or their staff that mention the Palisades and Eaton fires. At this point, it’s unclear whether the city would have a substantial number of documents on the Eaton fire, given its location outside city limits.

Harris-Dawson did not provide comment. But Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, who serves on the council’s public safety committee, made clear that he thinks the senators are confused by Southern California’s geography — and the distinctions between city and county jurisdictions.

“MAGA Republicans couldn’t even look at a map before launching into this ridiculous investigation,” he said. “DEI did not cause the fires, and these senators should take their witch hunts elsewhere,” he said in a statement.

Officials in L.A. County, who have confronted their own hard questions about botched evacuation alerts and poor resource deployment during the Eaton fire, said they had not received any letters from the senators about either fire.

Neither Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger — who currently serves as board chair — nor Supervisor Lindsey Horvath had received such a document request, according to their aides. Barger represents Altadena, while Horvath’s district includes Pacific Palisades, Malibu and unincorporated communities affected by the Palisades fire.

Monday’s letter also seeks records “referring or relating to any reports or investigations of arson, burglary, theft, or looting” in fire-affected areas, as well as the arrest of Jonathan Rinderknecht, the Palisades fire arson suspect. It also seeks documents on the council’s efforts to “dismantle systemic racism” — and whether such efforts affected the DWP or the Fire Department.

Alberto Retana, president and chief executive of Community Coalition, a nonprofit group based in Harris-Dawson’s district, said he too views the inquiry from the two senators as a witch hunt — one that’s targeting L.A. city elected officials while ignoring Southern California Edison.

“There’s been reports that Edison was responsible for the Eaton fire, but there’s [nothing] that shows any concern about that,” he said.

Residents in Altadena have previously voiced concerns about what they viewed as disparities in the Trump administration’s response to the two fires. The Palisades fire tore through the mostly wealthy neighborhoods of Pacific Palisades and Malibu — home to celebrities who have since kept the recovery in the spotlight. Meanwhile, many of Altadena’s Black and working-class residents say their communities have been left behind.

In both areas, however, there has been growing concern that now-barren lots will be swiftly purchased by wealthy outside investors, including those who are based outside of the United States.

Scott, in a news release issued this week, said the congressional investigation will also examine whether Chinese companies are “taking advantage” of the fire recovery. The Times has not been able to independently verify such claims.

David Zahniser, Grace Toohey, Ana Ceballos

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October 24, 2025

New financing district aims to pay for fire-damaged Altadena streets, trees, sewer lines and parks

A new kind of financing mechanism approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will keep future property tax revenues within unincorporated Altadena, instead of flowing into the county’s general fund.

Why is that earmark important?

Because the county will use these local funds to pay for replacing damaged Altadena infrastructure such as streets, curbs, sewer lines, street trees, as well as rebuilding Farnsworth Park, the Altadena Senior Center and the Eaton Canyon Nature Center all vaporized by the Eaton fire in January.

Some of these potential projects are aimed at repairing the hidden destruction caused by the extensive and severe firestorm that demolished 9,400 structures including homes, businesses, schools, parks and government buildings.

The county estimates the toll amounts to $2 billion in infrastructure damage — and that includes public parks — as a result of the fire. Without replacing them, the town of Altadena would never come back to life.

To get what’s called tax increment financing, the board approved formation of the Altadena Wildfire Recovery Infrastructure Financing District. The District hopes to raise $500 million over 50 years to use toward projects approved by a five-member Public Financing Authority or PFA.

The PFA would be made up of three Los Angeles County Supervisors and two public members. The first to join so far is Fifth District Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents Altadena. The rest will be appointed by the county’s Chief Executive Office. Anyone from the public interested in joining should contact the county CEO, said Barger.

“This is just one more tool we are using to rebuild — especially on the infrastructure side,” said Barger in an interview on Wednesday, Oct. 22.

“This is clearly a vehicle that would be beneficial, especially as it relates to infrastructure needs in Altadena,” she added.

Closed since the Eaton fire, Charles S. Farnsworth County Park, also known as Farnsworth Park, is a Los Angeles County park in Altadena. The park was photographed on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2025. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Michele Zack, Altadena historian and author of historical books on the town, said the new financing district would help with not just replacing Farnsworth Park, but rebuilding it back better.

“You might be able to finance a watershed management project at the park. To try to build in more climate resiliency,” she said on Wednesday. The watershed management at the park had consisted of sandbags, she said. She’d like to see the park used for underground storage of rainwater and mountain runoff.

The new financial district falls under state law that allows creation of Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts (EIFDs) or Climate Resilience Districts (CRDs), which usually take one to two years to get started.

Creation of this district got a boost from the state Legislature. Senate Bill 782 from State Sen. Sasha Perez, D-Pasadena, allowed for a new take on these financial instruments, called Disaster Recovery Districts. The bill, passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last week, shortens the time needed to form a district to only a few months.

“This new law provides a streamlined option for cities and counties to establish these districts whose revenues will be dedicated to repairing, rehabilitating, or replacing disaster-damaged infrastructure and to projects such as economic recovery initiatives, resiliency enhancements, small business support, and workforce development programs, while maintaining strong public oversight,” said Perez in a statement on Wednesday.

The county has already established the tax base year of 2024-2025. Any increases in property taxes in Altadena after that is the increment, or difference. That is the money that will go to the Altadena Wildfire Recovery Infrastructure Financing District.

Governing this new district is the PFA, which should be up and running by the first week in December, said Anish Saraiya, aide to Barger who is also a civil engineer. It’s first task is to approve an infrastructure financing plan that allows the county to freeze the tax increment on Altadena properties, he said.

“We need an incredible amount of resources immediately to help us rebuild almost $2 billion dollars worth of damaged infrastructure,” said Saraiya.

Since tax increment monies take awhile to flow, the district will buy bonds to raise capital quickly, he said. “You access the financial markets to issue bonds, to accelerate the funding you need.”

Infrastructure projects will be the District’s main goal. But even with $500 million, it will not be enough to meet the $2 billion need.

Barger said to fill in gaps, she’s looking at philanthropic donations, especially for rebuilding a new Eaton Canyon Nature Center. The L.A. Dodgers Foundation helped fund the rebuilding of Loma Alta Park, she noted.

“Infrastructure includes parks because they are a vital part of Altadena,” Barger said.

Zack said she expects many from Altadena would be interested in serving on the new authority. “For those two community positions there will be a lot of jockeying,” she said.

Originally Published: October 22, 2025 at 5:08 PM PDT

Steve Scauzillo

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October 22, 2025

$2B Powerball Winner Vows to Rebuild Fire-Ravaged Hometown

Posted on: October 17, 2025, 03:19h.

Last updated on: October 17, 2025, 03:19h.

Lottery billionaire pledges to rebuild fire-ravaged Altadena community
UCLA study reveals severe racial impact of Eaton Fire
Local reactions mixed as Castro buys scorched neighborhood lots

Powerball’s $2 billion winner Edwin Castro has pledged to rebuild his hometown of Altadena in Los Angeles County, Calif., much of which was destroyed by wildfire in January.

Powerball, Edwin Castro, Altadena, Eaton Fire, wildfire recovery — Edwin Castro, above, gave his first interview since his 2 billion lottery win to the WSJ as he pledged to restore properties in his hometown, Altadena, Calif. (Image: Fontoura)

The world’s richest lottery winner is one of the biggest buyers of scorched lots in the town, which are being purchased by investors from residents who have chosen to sell up rather than rebuild.

Castro bought his winning lottery ticket in 2022 for $10 from a gas station, Joe’s Service Center, on the corner of Fair Oaks Avenue and Woodbury Road in Altadena. The fire burned more than 100 homes in Fair Oaks Avenue but spared Joe’s, prompting The New York Times to describe it as “the luckiest gas station in America.”

Devastating Fire

Many others were not lucky. The Eaton fire broke out on the evening of January 7, 2025, in Eaton Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains. Fueled by powerful Santa Ana winds, it swept down into the foothill communities, hitting Altadena especially hard.

Some 48% of Black households and around 37% of non-Black households were destroyed, according to a UCLA study. That suggests that around 39% of all households were wiped out – devastating for a community of around 43K people.

In total, 31 people died in the numerous California wildfires of January 2025, at least two in Altadena.

I want it to feel like the old neighborhood,” Castro told The Wall Street Journal in his first words to the media since his gargantuan windfall. “Like if you put all those houses pre-fire in a time bubble.”

Castro is looking to build homes for families who want to settle in Altadena, rather than those wanting to rent them out. But he emphasized that he was also looking to make a few bucks from the venture.

“The profit margin doesn’t have to be egregious. But I’m not building these homes just to give them away,” he told WSJ, adding that they might take ten years to build.

Man of Mystery

Castro, who lost a $3 million Malibu mansion to the California fires, has largely been an enigma since his win, but he revealed some details about himself this week to WSJ.

He said he grew up in a middle-class family, and his father was in construction. He was a Boy Scout who spent his childhood going on fishing trips, fixing up old cards, and obsessing about Pokémon and Dungeons & Dragons.

He was renting his home when he won big and working as a private architecture consultant. He is single and wants kids “like yesterday.”

But not everyone is convinced by Castro’s pitch. One resident, whose house was damaged by smoke, complained to WSJ that he was “just another person trying to get some profit.”

Philip Conneller

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October 17, 2025

Habitat for Humanity begins first Altadena home rebuild post-Eaton fire

San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity Thursday, Oct. 16, began framing the walls for what will be the new home of Kenneth and Carol Wood, an Altadena couple who lived in the community for more than 40 years before the Eaton fire destroyed their home and the homes of their adult children.

It’s the first home Habitat for Humanity will rebuild in Altadena since the fire.

While a series of speakers that included Rep. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena, spoke Thursday morning about the impact of the milestone, a small team of construction workers began prepping the first phase of construction.

Wong said there’s no time to waste for what Habitat’s goals.

“As you can tell, construction crew doesn’t really care what we do, they’re moving forward,” Wong said. “The reason why is we’ve got a really tight schedule. It is our goal to make sure that they are home for the holidays.”

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Habitat for Humanity volunteers work to rebuild a home destroyed by the Eaton Fire on E Pine St. in Altadena on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

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Starting Thursday until Saturday afternoon the construction team and volunteers will be setting up pre-built walls, installing the roof framing and plywood sheeting on the walls.

Kenneth Wood knew people were going to come out to help build his new home but seeing them in action Thursday filled him with appreciation.

“It’s like something that I had heard that would happen, but I’d never seen it,” Wood said. “It’s one thing to hear it and something else to see it and so it’s almost beyond words.”

Wood said living at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains for more than 40 years went beyond his dreams as a child of just being able to see mountains someday.

“I didn’t know if I’d ever live here again,” Wood said. “So to be here, I call it a dream come true.”

Carol Wood said the goal from the beginning was to stay and rebuild in Altadena.

“I don’t know anywhere else I want to go, that was the thought,” Wood said. “Now, how it was going to be possible is another story, but as far as our wish, our hearts were to stay in Altadena.”

That’s where Habitat came into play. The Wood home is the first of 25 rebuilds with the goal of being completed in the next 12 months, Wong said. The Altadena Builds Back Foundation, a creation of the Pasadena Community Foundation, is funding 22 of the 25 rebuilds thanks to a $4.55 million grant.

Wong said while the first batch of homes being rebuild is a start, it’s not enough.

“We need to be doing 25 houses a month,” Wong said. “We need to get things geared up, we need to build things up. Only with all of your support that we will get there. It’ll take us a little while to ramp up but we will get there.”

Construction Director Brian Stanley walked a group of about 60 volunteers through the safety procedures on the work site. Stanley said despite Mother Nature and some mishaps getting all the materials to Altadena putting them a few days behind schedule, the Habitat team would not be deterred.

“This is the last of the old-fashioned barn raisings right where the community gets together, volunteers just to help out,” Stanley said.

Habitat will need about 60 volunteers every day until the target date of completion — around the week of Thanksgiving.

As the frames of the home’s walls were stood up, Stanley said the foundations of future home rebuilds were being laid around Altadena.

Victoria Knapp encouraged the gathered volunteers by explaining the gravity of the work they were about to undertake.

“Your work here matters,” Knapp said. “It matters to me and it matters to Altadena and it matters to the Wood family. So, with that, let’s get building.”

Nonprofit organization Foothill Catalog Foundation helped design the building plans for the Wood’s home and for some of the other planned rebuilds in coordination with Habitat for Humanity.

The catalog includes pre-approved home designs for fire survivors to pick from to speed up the rebuilding process and make it more affordable. The Wood family project is a three-bedroom, two-bathroom 1,160- square-foot home. In the catalog, their home design is called “The Lewis.”

Stanley said prior construction experience is not necessary to be a Habitat volunteer.

“Our staff acts as teachers through the process, and we provide the tools and we do everything we can to keep them safe and so it’s on the job training so to speak,” Stanley said. “So just enthusiastic willingness to help the community is what is really needed.”

Wong said people can help Habitat reach its goals through volunteering their time, money or materials and can visit sgv.habitat.org for more information. He said it’s not too late for fire survivors to apply for the rebuilding program.

“We’re beginning to see the light,” Carol Wood said. “At first it’s like everything is gone, everything is dark, what do we do, where to we go? You just feel out of it. To see everyone working together, coming together to help us it’s so wonderful.”

David Wilson

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October 16, 2025

Rams Foundation Helps Family Rebuild After Altadena Fires

This is bigger than football, and no matter what, we’re all on the same team

The amazing residents living here in Los Angeles and the surrounding cities all over Southern California are some of the strongest and most resilient people on Earth. Whether it’s intensely passionate political protests or the second-biggest wildfire catastrophe in California’s history, it’s never a matter of “if” they will recover, but “when” they recover.

Want proof? Look no further than the Donny-Ashley family, a beautiful blended family that sadly lost their home earlier this year during the dreadful Eaton fires that raged in the Altadena area. And like many other unfortunate victims of the terrible fires that ran rampant across Southern California, the Donny-Ashley family was left scrambling about how to proceed after their lives changed forever in the blink of an eye.

“For my husband and I, it felt a lot like losing a loved one. You go through a wave of emotions, like sadness, denial and anxiety,” says Quinn Mitchell-Ashley, a third-generation Altadena/Pasadena native, and loving wife to husband Donny Ashley. Quinn and Donny had just begun to truly settle into their warm Altadena home, along with their wonderful children—Kristina, age 19, Dimitri, age 14, Kenneth, age 11 and Diem, age 1, before disaster struck.

Credit: Los Angeles Rams

Immediately, it was a tough uphill battle for the Donny-Ashley family, with no roof over their heads, and no direction to lean towards; but of course, their first priority was to find proper shelter for the kids. “Thankfully, the perks of being a blended family allowed for our children to have a sense of normalcy with our co-parents,” says Quinn, before continuing on, “There was also the additional struggle of maintaining our clientele and income—as entrepreneurs, losing our home affected our businesses tremendously.”

Eventually, word of the Donny-Ashley family caught wind to Aurianne Tuttle, a hardworking agent for the nonprofit organization, The Change Reaction, that specializes in aiding struggling Angelenos during dire times of need. Aurianne is no stranger to the supportive role, thanks to the massively positive impact made by her own nonprofit operating in the Watts Area, ROC ERA. Once Aurianne connected with the family and heard their story, she felt obliged to do everything in her power to assist them, including partnering with the LA Rams’ charitable initiative, Rams Foundation.

“Aware we were one family of hundreds that needed help, we were grateful for even being considered. After four months, we received a request to be interviewed as wildfire survivors, which we now know was only a ploy to surprise us with a new home for a year!” said Quinn.

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Molly Higgins, Executive Vice President (EVP) of Community Impact and Engagement for the LA Rams, was eager to assist after being absolutely blown away by the family’s selflessness upon initially meeting them. “You’ve lost your home, and yet you’re here to learn about ways to help your community. You know, so cool and inspiring,” Molly recalls before continuing, “They were just so grateful to be alive and said that they were just so appreciative of the community and the way that community rallied around them in such a time of loss.”

Through the generous efforts of the Rams Foundation, the Donny-Ashleys, and one other family, were given a rental home chosen through Zillow’s handy rental platform, with one year’s rent completely covered, and the houses fully furnished thanks to a thoughtful $15,000 donation from Bob’s Furniture. Additionally, five LAUSD employees whose homes were affected by the fires would receive rental assistance.

“It was a moment that I’ll never forget and probably one of the most, you know, emotional moments and my 24 years with the Rams, and I’ve had a lot of emotional moments along the way, but just to be able to give that family a fresh start and such a beautiful family at that, and just their gratitude and appreciation it was just incredible,” stated Molly.

It’s hard not to root for the Donny-Ashley family. Having overcome so much trial and tribulation, Quinn, Donny, and the children know that second chances rarely come around. But thanks to all the remarkable efforts and contributions of Aurianne Tuttle, the Rams Foundation, and their partners, Zillow and Bob’s Furniture, the Donny-Ashley family hold that second chance in their palms. And while they’re extremely grateful for their new housing, Quinn and the rest of the family know that home isn’t just about the walls around you or the roof over your head—as Quinn says passionately, “Home to us has and always will be family… regardless of relation, status or time!”

Vahe Baghdoyan

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October 11, 2025

Commentary: He might be the first one to rebuild a house in Altadena, and he credits his golden retriever

The doors and windows are done. The appliances are on the way. The hardwood floors are stacked and ready to lay down.

In January, Ted Koerner’s Altadena house was incinerated in the Eaton fire along with thousands of others.

But today, he and his 13-year-old dog, Daisy, are just weeks from returning to their property after spending most of the year in temporary quarters, and they might be the first Altadenans to move into a completely rebuilt house.

“We’re starting to practice being home,” Koerner said in his front yard, with Daisy at his feet and a work crew applying finishing touches in the living room.

Daisy, a dark-eyed golden retriever with a coat that looks like a luxurious white bathrobe, is the star of this story and the reason Koerner is determined to have the house completed as soon as possible.

“I just want to go home,” said Ted Koerner to neighbors about his home that is being rebuilt.

Daisy, or Daisy Mae, as Koerner sometimes calls her, is well beyond average life expectancy for a golden retriever, and he wanted her to live out her life on the property that was their sanctuary. He feeds her salmon and bottled water; no impurities for his girl, who has Russian and Danish lineage and is as smart as she is sweet, according to the proudest of dog owners.

“That dog has saved my life more times than I can count,” said Koerner, 66, who is single, suffers from bouts of depression, and bonded with Daisy the day he rescued her as a puppy. “She is my service dog.”

They lost everything but each other, and for Daisy’s sake, as much as his own, he has pushed and prodded, eager to get home.

“They framed the whole house, and the garage, in three days. Thirty journeymen framers. Because of her,” said Koerner, his voice breaking as he recalled the house-raising that began in mid-July. “They all understood, if she dies before I get home, don’t finish building it, because I’ll be dead the same day.”

A worker on scaffolding smooths the ceiling with a tool in an unfinished room

Koerner believes he’ll be the first person to move into a brand new house in the Altadena fire zone. An L.A. County rebuilding coordinator backed that up, although Victoria Knapp, who chairs the Altadena Town Council, said one other project is speeding toward completion.

Given that two-thirds of the 6,000-plus burned properties haven’t even hit the permitting phase yet, and that it could be a few years before a rebuilt Altadena takes shape, the questions here are obvious:

What magic did Koerner perform to approach the finish line in short order, and are there lessons for others?

Koerner runs an investigations and fraud-prevention company that has had decades of dealings with government agencies and assorted businesses, including insurance companies. So although he was just one David against an army of Goliaths, he was not new to the practice of reloading a slingshot.

Before the smoke of the Eaton fire had cleared, while staying with Daisy at a Pasadena hotel, Koerner met an Army Corps of Engineers official who advised him that once his lot was cleared, he should pour the cement of a new foundation as soon as possible. Whatever it took to make it happen, do it. That would put him at the front of the line in a crowd of thousands rebuilding from scratch.

Koerner took the advice to heart and decided not to wait on an insurance payment, which could be indefinitely disputed and delayed. Instead, he liquidated retirement funds and plowed ahead on his own nickel with the hope of getting reimbursed later.

A man leans over and cups the face of his large white dog

Any major construction project is a herding expedition in a blinding fog, and it can be a test of patience and sanity. The plumber is here but the faucets aren’t. The drywall crew shows up but can’t do anything until the electrician runs the wiring. The sprinkling system is done but the inspector just left on a Hawaiian vacation. And the roof tiles were last seen on a pickup truck that might or might not have left a warehouse in Arizona, or possibly New Mexico.

This is why people often crack that you should take the promised cost and timeline of a project, double both, and line up a good marriage counselor. In the aftermath of an epic disaster, you also have to wrangle with the complications of destroyed infrastructure, permitting bottlenecks, insurance disputes and scary levels of contamination.

I know of one company, Genesis Builders, that says it’s managing and speeding the entire process with pre-designed homes that can be completed in 15 months, but I haven’t checked out the details yet.

For those interested in following Koerner’s lead, how best to proceed?

Koerner Lesson No. 1: “Email is not communication.”

And what’s he mean by that?

“If you send an email and wait for a callback, you’re not going to get one,” he said. “No city, no county, no governmental agency is ever ready for a disaster of this magnitude. It’s always going to be chaos.”

He called people, instead, and kept a file of direct lines, or he met with people face to face. He was the proverbial squeaky wheel, never taking no for an answer, and he was able to invest a ton of his own time, even if it meant being on hold long enough to repeatedly read “Old Yeller” and watch the movie.

Koerner heaped praise on Anish Saraiya, director of the Altadena recovery for L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, for helping him navigate the maze. When I used the word “persistent” to describe Koerner, Saraiya corrected me.

“He’s tenacious,” he said.

Saraiya said Koerner has helped identify roadblocks to progress — such as the typical lead time in lining up utility services — and the county is working to streamline the entire rebuilding process for everyone.

Koerner Lesson No. 2: “Make a decision to go home.”

By that, he means get moving, and keep the blueprints simple.

“This is not the time to build a mansion to your legacy,” Koerner said. “Do you want to go home, or do you want to mess with every three inches of where the sink goes, the closet goes, every door, every window? Make a decision and stick with it. … This is not some grand demonstration of your design capabilities. This is about going home, or you go to the back of the line and wait.”

Koerner Lesson No. 3: “Hire a builder who understands the meaning of the word ‘finish.’”

Before the fire, Koerner was having his bathrooms remodeled by Innova Creative Solution, a Van Nuys-based general contracting company. He trusted project manager Jossef Abraham, so he hired him to build his new house. And Abraham, according to Koerner, has kept things moving as promised.

“I think it helps a lot for people who are victims of fire to see progress,” Abraham told me, saying he’s managed the bureaucratic hurdles and made sure his material suppliers are lined up.

The house will be better shielded against fire, Abraham said, with concrete roof tiles, tempered windows, sprinklers and enclosed eaves. He said he’s well aware of Koerner’s bond with Daisy, and although he doesn’t know if he can get man and his best friend home by Halloween, he thinks six weeks is doable.

“Daisy is his entire world and she’s just amazing. What a dog,” Abraham said. ”

A man sits in a chair with his dog on the ground in front of him outside a home

Koerner’s house sits just west of Lake Avenue, where mountain and metropolis meet, with sweeping views across the valley and down to the sea. On clear days, Koerner said, he can see to Dana Point and to Ventura.

He avoided visiting his property before framing began, too depressed by the empty space where home had been since 2006. When Daisy was a pup, Koerner began planting dozens of native plants near the Aleppo pines and fig trees, creating what he called their campground arboretum. Most of which was destroyed.

On a recent visit with Daisy, Koerner took a seat in the front yard, under a heritage oak tree that survived the fire, and looked down the hill toward dozens of vacant lots where houses once stood and disaster seemed remote. Daisy seemed surprised, maybe even confused, by the altered terrain. But she soon fell into a familiar rhythm.

“She immediately walked over to me and wiggled around like goldens do,” Koerner said. “She looked at me, licked my hands, lay down next to my feet and went sound asleep. And the neighbor and I cried a lot because that’s all that matters to dogs, is that they’re with us.”

steve.lopez@latimes.com

Steve Lopez

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October 4, 2025

Rick Caruso Undecided on 2026 Bid: L.A. Mayor or Governor?

Rick Caruso told Bloomberg TV on Wednesday that he has not decided whether he will run for the position of Mayor of Los Angeles or Governor of California.

Rick Caruso ran against Karen Bass in the elections for Los Angeles mayor in 2022.

On Wednesday, businessman and philanthropist Rick Caruso told Bloomberg TV that he has not decided whether he will run for California Governor or Los Angeles mayor.

If he chose to run for mayor, Caruso would be running once again, following his loss to Karen Bass in 2022. Since Bass’s election, Caruso has been critical of the mayor’s actions regarding the 2025 Palisades fires, as he felt that she carried out a negligent response to the fires.

Though Caruso was not in office as mayor, he took the initiative to respond to the fires himself, creating his own nonprofit called Steadfast LA, which was aimed at speeding up the recovery and rebuilding process for Los Angeles communities that were impacted by the fires.

Caruso’s passion for rebuilding LA after the devastating fires extends to his criticism against the governor, whom he may run to replace in the elections. Current Governor Gavin Newsom has asked for $40 billion for California to rebuild after the fires from the federal government, but the motion has not passed through Congress. The businessman called on Newsom to stop bickering with Trump and instead to work with him on getting the money to California.

“We need federal funding and we’re getting none of that,” Caruso stated. “I don’t think the bickering and name-calling that’s going on serves any purpose of advancing the negotiations or discussions in getting federal help in Los Angeles.”

Ava Mitchell

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September 5, 2025

Federal government sues California utility, alleging equipment sparked deadly Eaton Fire in LA

The federal government filed two lawsuits Thursday against Southern California Edison, alleging the utility’s equipment sparked fires including January’s Eaton Fire in the Los Angeles area, which destroyed more than 9,400 structures and killed 17 people.“The lawsuits filed today allege a troubling pattern of negligence resulting in death, destruction, and tens of millions of federal taxpayer dollars spent to clean up one utility company’s mistakes,” U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said at a news conference Thursday.(Video above: LA, Maui wildfires tied to hundreds more deaths, new studies show.)The filings allege that Edison failed to properly maintain its power and transmission infrastructure in the area where the Eaton Fire ignited on Jan. 7. It asks for more than $40 million in damages to the federal, state and local governments. Edison spokesperson Jeff Monford said the utility is reviewing the lawsuits.“We continue our work to reduce the likelihood of our equipment starting a wildfire,” Monford said. “Southern California Edison is committed to wildfire mitigation through grid hardening, situational awareness and enhanced operational practices.”The company has stated it operates three transmission towers in the Eaton Canyon area overlooking the unincorporated area of Altadena, which was ravaged by the fire. In early reports to the California Public Utility Commission, Edison has said it detected a “fault” on one of its transmission lines around the time that the Eaton Fire started.In a July 31 report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the utility said while it has “not conclusively determined” its equipment was responsible for the fire, there was “concerning circumstantial evidence” that suggests its transmission facilities in the area could have been associated with the starting of the fire.It also said it was “not aware of evidence pointing to another possible source of ignition,” according to the report cited in the lawsuit.Though the investigation into the fire is still ongoing, Essayli said the government is confident moving forward with the lawsuit, especially with fire season quickly approaching.“There’s no reason to wait,” Essayli said. “We believe that the evidence is clear that Edison is at fault, and by their own admissions, no one else is at fault.” A second lawsuit filed Thursday alleges that Edison’s negligence led to the sparking of the Fairview Fire in September 2022, which scorched the San Bernardino National Forest in Riverside County.According to the filing, a sagging power line in Hemet, California, operated by Edison came into contact with a Frontier Communications messenger cable, which created sparks and ignited the vegetation below.That fire burned more than 21 square miles (54 square kilometers) of forest, killing two people and destroying 44 structures. The government is seeking $37 million in damages incurred by the U.S. Forest Service.Essayli said he will seek terms that prevent Edison from paying for the lawsuits by raising their utility rates.Several Altadena residents who lost their homes sued Edison in January, days after the fire broke out. Their attorneys said at the time they believed Edison’s equipment caused it, pointing to video taken during the fire’s early minutes that showed a large blaze directly beneath electrical towers.Los Angeles County sued Edison in March, seeking hundreds of millions of dollars for costs and damages sustained from the blaze.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

LOS ANGELES —

The federal government filed two lawsuits Thursday against Southern California Edison, alleging the utility’s equipment sparked fires including January’s Eaton Fire in the Los Angeles area, which destroyed more than 9,400 structures and killed 17 people.

“The lawsuits filed today allege a troubling pattern of negligence resulting in death, destruction, and tens of millions of federal taxpayer dollars spent to clean up one utility company’s mistakes,” U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said at a news conference Thursday.

(Video above: LA, Maui wildfires tied to hundreds more deaths, new studies show.)

The filings allege that Edison failed to properly maintain its power and transmission infrastructure in the area where the Eaton Fire ignited on Jan. 7. It asks for more than $40 million in damages to the federal, state and local governments.

Edison spokesperson Jeff Monford said the utility is reviewing the lawsuits.

“We continue our work to reduce the likelihood of our equipment starting a wildfire,” Monford said. “Southern California Edison is committed to wildfire mitigation through grid hardening, situational awareness and enhanced operational practices.”

The company has stated it operates three transmission towers in the Eaton Canyon area overlooking the unincorporated area of Altadena, which was ravaged by the fire. In early reports to the California Public Utility Commission, Edison has said it detected a “fault” on one of its transmission lines around the time that the Eaton Fire started.

In a July 31 report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the utility said while it has “not conclusively determined” its equipment was responsible for the fire, there was “concerning circumstantial evidence” that suggests its transmission facilities in the area could have been associated with the starting of the fire.

It also said it was “not aware of evidence pointing to another possible source of ignition,” according to the report cited in the lawsuit.

Though the investigation into the fire is still ongoing, Essayli said the government is confident moving forward with the lawsuit, especially with fire season quickly approaching.

“There’s no reason to wait,” Essayli said. “We believe that the evidence is clear that Edison is at fault, and by their own admissions, no one else is at fault.”

A second lawsuit filed Thursday alleges that Edison’s negligence led to the sparking of the Fairview Fire in September 2022, which scorched the San Bernardino National Forest in Riverside County.

According to the filing, a sagging power line in Hemet, California, operated by Edison came into contact with a Frontier Communications messenger cable, which created sparks and ignited the vegetation below.

That fire burned more than 21 square miles (54 square kilometers) of forest, killing two people and destroying 44 structures. The government is seeking $37 million in damages incurred by the U.S. Forest Service.

Essayli said he will seek terms that prevent Edison from paying for the lawsuits by raising their utility rates.

Several Altadena residents who lost their homes sued Edison in January, days after the fire broke out. Their attorneys said at the time they believed Edison’s equipment caused it, pointing to video taken during the fire’s early minutes that showed a large blaze directly beneath electrical towers.

Los Angeles County sued Edison in March, seeking hundreds of millions of dollars for costs and damages sustained from the blaze.

See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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September 4, 2025

‘I’m not going anywhere’: For one Altadena fire survivor, the math makes sense to rebuild

Jennie Marie Mahalick Petrini has a big decision on her hands.

For Petrini, the night of Jan. 7 brought total loss. The Eaton fire decimated her quaint home in the northwest corner of Altadena near Jane’s Village, reducing her sanctuary to a pile of rubble.

“I have a spiritual connection to that house,” she said. “It was the only place I felt safe.”

Now, like thousands of others, she’s crunching the numbers on whether to sell her burned lot and move on, or stay and rebuild.

For many, it makes more sense to sell. Experts estimate a rebuild could take years, and navigating contractors, inspectors and governmental red tape, all while recovering from a traumatic incident, just isn’t worth the effort. It’s the reason why lots are hitting the market daily.

But for Petrini — for reasons both emotional and financial, a melding of head and heart — staying is the only realistic option.

Breaking down the math

Petrini, 47, bought her Altadena home, where she lived with her partner and two daughters, for $705,000 in 2019. Built in 1925, it’s 1,352 square feet with three bedrooms and two bathrooms on a thin lot of just over 5,300 square feet.

She was able to refinance her loan during the pandemic, lowering the interest rate to 2.75% on a $450,000 mortgage. The move brought her mortgage payments from $3,600 down to $3,000 — a relative steal, and only slightly more than the $2,800 rent she has been paying for a Tujunga apartment since the fire.

The property was insured by Farmers, which sprang into action following the fire, sending the first of her payouts on Jan. 8.

Petrini received $380,000 for the dwelling, an extra 20% for extended damage equating to roughly $70,000, and $200,000 for personal property. She used the $200,000 payout to cover living expenses such as a second car, medical bills and a bit of savings, and also tucked away $50,000 to use toward rebuilding.

She estimates that even the thriftiest rebuild will cost around $700,000, and right now, she can cover around $500,000: the $380,000 and $70,000 insurance payouts, plus $50,000 of the personal property payout she stashed for a rebuild.

To cover the extra $200,000, she received a Small Business Administration loan up to $500,000 with an interest rate of 2.65%, which can be used for property renovations. Once she starts pulling from that loan, she estimates she’ll pay around $1,000 per month, which, combined with her $3,000 mortgage, totals roughly $4,000.

It’s a hefty number, but still far cheaper than selling and starting over.

“I could sell the lot for $500,000, take my insurance payout and buy something new, but my house was valued at $1.2 million,” she said. “So even if I put $500,000 down on a new house, to get something similar, I’d have a $700,000 mortgage with a much higher interest rate.”

As it stands, if she cashed out, she’d be renting for the foreseeable future in the midst of a housing crisis where rents rise and some landlords take advantage of tenants, especially in times of crisis. Price gouging skyrocketed as thousands flooded the rental market in January, leading to bidding wars for subaverage homes. To secure her Tujunga rental, Petrini, through her insurance, had to pay 18 months of rent up front — a total of more than $50,000.

“It sounds so lucrative: sell the land, pay off my mortgage and be debt-free. But then my children wouldn’t have a home,” she said.

Bigger than money

Jennie Marie Mahalick Petrini, from left, and her daughters, Marli Petrini, 19, and Camille Petrini, 12, look over the lot where their home stood before the Altadena fire. It was the first time the daughters had looked through the lot.

(Robert Hanashiro / For The Times)

While the math makes sense, Petrini has bigger reasons for staying: she’s emotionally tied to the lot, the community and the people within it.

Altadena is a safe haven for her. She bought her home after escaping a domestic violence situation in 2017. The seller had higher offers, but ended up selling to Petrini after she wrote a letter explaining her circumstances.

It’s also the place where she got sober after abusing stimulants to stay awake and keep things running as a single mom.

“When I was getting sober, I’d go for walks five times a day through the neighborhood,” she said. The trees, the animals, the flowers, the variety of houses. It was — is — a special place.”

Petrini once worked as the executive director of operations at Occidental College, but took a break in 2023 to focus on her children and her health. She and a daughter both have Type 1 diabetes.

Petrini hasn’t been employed since, and her parents helped her pay the mortgage before the fire. She acknowledges that she’s operating from a place of privilege, but said accepting help is crucial when recovering from something.

“Even being unemployed, I just knew I’d be okay here,” she said. “I would trade potting soil to a man who owned a vegan restaurant in exchange for food. You always get what you need here.”

Getting crafty

For Petrini, speed is the name of the game. Experts estimate rebuilding could take somewhere between three and five years or even longer, but she’s hoping to break ground in August and finish by next summer.

In addition to nonprofits, she’s also reaching out to appliances manufacturers and construction companies. The goal is to stitch together a house with whatever’s cheap — or even better, free. She recently received 2,500 square feet of siding from Modern Mill.

“I’m not looking for a custom-built mansion, but I also don’t want an IKEA showroom box house,” she said. “My house was 100 years old, and I want to rebuild something with character.”

To help with costs, she’s also hoping to use Senate Bill 9 to split her lot in half. She’d then sell the other half of the property to her contractor, a friend, for a friendly price of $250,000.

Jennie Marie Mahalick Petrini is diving into the complicated process of staying in Altadena and rebuilding her property.

To speed up the process, she’s opting for a “like-for-like” rebuild — structures that mirror whatever they’re replacing. For such projects, L.A. County is expediting permitting timelines to speed up fire recovery.

So Petrini’s new house will be the exact same size as the old one: 1,352 square feet with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. She submitted plans in early June and expects to get approval by the end of the month.

For the design, she turned to Altadena Collective, an organization collaborating with the Foothill Catalog Foundation that’s helping fire victims in Jane’s Village rebuild the English Cottage-style homes for which the neighborhood is known. For customized architectural plans, project management and structural engineering, Petrini paid them $33,000 — roughly half of what she would’ve paid someone else, she said.

“I’m going with whatever’s quickest and most efficient. If we run out of money, who needs drywall,” she said. “I want my house to be the first one rebuilt.”

It doesn’t have to be perfect. Petrini and her daughters have been compiling vision boards of their dream kitchen and bathrooms, but she knows sacrifices will be made.

“It’s gonna be a scavenger hunt to get this done. We’re gonna use any material we can find,” she said. “But it’ll have a story. Just like Altadena.”

Jack Flemming

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June 23, 2025

Tag: eaton fire

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Devastating Fire

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Habitat for Humanity begins first Altadena home rebuild post-Eaton fire

Rams Foundation Helps Family Rebuild After Altadena Fires

Commentary: He might be the first one to rebuild a house in Altadena, and he credits his golden retriever

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Federal government sues California utility, alleging equipment sparked deadly Eaton Fire in LA

‘I’m not going anywhere’: For one Altadena fire survivor, the math makes sense to rebuild

Breaking down the math

Bigger than money

Getting crafty